Imagine that a crusty old curmudgeon of a guy agrees to let you tag along while he goes fishing in the Louisiana bayou. You get up at 4:45am and sip coffee while yawning on the drive down from New Orleans. When you arrive at the landing, he glances at you and your family, makes a noise that sounds sort of like “eh” and sort of like “well,” and then climbs onto a boat.
You follow.
His name is Roy and he chain-smokes as he cruises through a vast network of canals and open-water marshes. The sun is just beginning to rise as he finally pulls up near a clump of reeds and cuts the motor. Without a word, he passes fishing rods to you, your husband, and your son, and then turns and begins casting into the marsh. You stare, befuddled, at the giant shrimp on the end of your line, wondering what to do next.
During the five and a half long hours that you spend fishing in the bayou, Roy catches six enormous redfish, a seventh that is not quite large enough to keep, and two plump catfish, which your son begs him to return to the water. He smokes several additional cigarettes, while rationing his words. You stare at the murky brown water and beg time to move faster. Finally, at noon, he starts the engine and heads back to the marina. You, your husband, and your son have all caught exactly nothing. Roy, meanwhile, heads home with a giant cooler full of fish.
The Mississippi River Delta encompasses 2.7 million acres of coastal wetlands in Louisiana and is a place that is rich in history, culture, and ecology. When French and Spanish people first arrived in the region, there were tens of thousands of Native people living in Louisiana, speaking 22 distinct languages. During the 1700s, thousands of African people were also kidnapped and brought to Louisiana as slaves. Today, Cajun and Creole culture incorporates many traditions from French, Spanish, Acadian, African, West Indian, and Native American peoples.
Louisiana also has the second largest commercial fishery in the United States (after Alaska) and generates more than $2.4 billion in revenue each year. Visit restaurants in New Orleans, and you’ll find menus full of oysters, crawfish, shrimp, redfish, catfish, and even alligator. Tourism is an even bigger boon for the Louisiana economy, with visitors spending more than $17 billion per year on hotels, restaurants, swamp tours, and fishing excursions.
Unfortunately, New Orleans and the surrounding river delta also suffer from constant bombardment by hurricanes, oil spills, and a never-ending deluge of water pollution carried in by the Mississippi River. As it flows 2,350 miles from Lake Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mighty Mississippi collects water from 1,245,000 square miles of land in portions of 31 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Once it arrives at the Gulf, the nitrogen accumulated during this journey consumes available oxygen in the ocean water and causes a “dead zone” as large as the State of New Jersey.
Despite decades of work, a recently released report finds that there has been almost no improvement in river and stream nitrogen pollution since 1990 (U.S. EPA 2023). One challenge is the sheer size and scale of change that is needed. Another is that the vast majority of water pollution improvements are achieved through voluntary action. To truly solve a problem of this scale, it isn’t enough to just regulate factories and wastewater treatment plants, we also have to fundamentally change the way we farm and the way we build cities and neighborhoods.
Some of the key strategies that help to reduce water pollution from agricultural areas include maintaining vegetated non-farming buffers along lakes, streams, rivers, and ditches (a law in Minnesota but not in other states); reducing applications of nitrogen fertilizers; planting cover crops during the winter to reduce erosion and improve soil health; and restoring historic wetlands. In Minnesota, there are numerous local, state, and federal programs available to provide technical assistance and offset the costs of these practices.
If you are a farmer who would like to tap into grant and technical assistance programs for cover crops, nutrient management, and wetland restoration, visit www.lsc1w1p.org/farmers to learn more.
If you are a vagabond traveler looking for a warm weather destination with beautiful architecture, great food and music, and enchanting adventures in bayous and swamps, consider a trip to New Orleans. I highly recommend the WWII Museum, beignets at Café Du Monde, a stroll through the French Quarter, and a swamp or bayou excursion.
And if you’d like to charter a fishing trip while you’re there? I kindly suggest you consider someone other than Roy.
East Metro Water 